Wednesday, April 5

Behind the Lines

By Aaron Martin

The sounds of race day drown in your adrenaline as you approach the gate. Start banners and background images blur, until only the course glows in front of you. Voices are obscure and distant. The world has turned into muffled, white noise.

You can smell the focus, almost taste the fluorocarbon on your bases. You push to the hinged aluminum wall; your tips strike the back of the gate, stopping you abruptly. An unknown fist raps your helmet for luck; the thud echoes into your brain as you await the launch into the next two minutes of your world.

You have trained for this event. You know the course like your girlfriends eyes. Yet, you still stare out at the beast, glaring at the first big kicker. You growl, threatening ithoping your rage makes it coweror somehow deters its ability to buck you onto your face. All the while, four other skiers use your body as a trampoline.

Just watch the gate, WATCH THE GATE. You death-grip the start handles, your poles hanging from your wrist straps like weapons waiting for battle. You breath deep, then deliberately exhale, purging everythingthe back pain, the knees, and any doubtsout of your world.

Four sets of skis stomp in the gates next to you, reminding your head you are not alone. You flash on a missed heli-ski season as the huge dude next to you catches your tip on the way to the first turn. Shake your head. Get it out. The air is silent. There is only the gate.

Breath. You are power. Unstoppable. Watch the gate, damn it. WATCH THE GATE . . . It drops, and every muscle fiber in your body explodes with Napalm fury. As you hurl through the gate and past your adversaries, you are a raging, mass of testosterone ski meat. Or, roughly translated, you have officially become a competitor of the greatest ski race in the modern world. Welcome to the Lord of the Boards! Enjoy the ride.

That was my scene last week at Alpine Meadows, CA.the beginning of it anyway, at Uncle E.'s infamous Budweiser Lord of the Boards. This event has grown, from its humble beginnings at Homewood Ski Resort several years ago, where I broke a 212 super-g in half on a fellow competitor's head. (The very morning of the race before the event, he had traded his bike helmet in for a full on Leedom hard-shell. I still thank our respective lucky stars). Today, that competitor and this event are still going strong.

Lord of the Boards now boasts a World Cup caliber field. The intensity and freshness of the format has been known to draw ex-pros out of hibernation, slamming them back into the jowls of competition.

Huge blond football players, with Swedish National Team jackets trench the course designed by Greg Nevelo. Being competitive in the Lord of the Boards today demands top strength, tact, and technology.

At the race start, ski-techs delicately line out vials of white fluorocarbon powder onto full-blown race boards. The sight is reminiscent of more controversial activities in the eighties. Gram for gram, fluorocarbon wax is more expensive than the other stuff. This event is serious business.

In light of it all, the event maintains a unique flavor to compliment the core competition. A competitor is doubled over in laughter as he waits for the gate to drop. Smiles shine all over the mountain. The racers know that the stoke of the people at Alpine Meadows, is what this race is all about.

The skier cross world has come very far. The presence of the modern day, Mountain Dew swiging, ski hero is not just a novelty any more. But have you ever wondered where the X-games, skier cross, and alternative ski racing events came from? Largely, it has arisen from one twistedly brilliant, accomplished, and genuine fellow.

Chris Ernst, AKA Uncle E. The creator of The Budwiser Lord of the Boards. A damn fine individual, who by the way, would probably win most of these events if he wasn't so committed to putting them on. His fake palm tree and pink flamingo clad courses, represent the birth of the skier cross scene. For that we should all be grateful. But for Chris, it is enough to be here promoting the sport. He is yet another member of the soul ski tribe. Go my brother, go.

The expantion of The Budweiser Lord of the Boards, is exciting. Chris plans to take his strengths, incredible crew, and the athletic talents of the world, to a new height next season. Hell, I got a sweet, on-hill massage this year between heats, and the boys from Manashtash Hemp Clothing www.manashtash.com were barbecuing free grub.

All I ask is what's next? Well, Chris promises an amazing international event tour for the 2000-01 seasonwith a festival like atmosphere, bands, parties, and seriously fun competition. Basically its the future of Rock and Roll. Check it out at www.exp-productions.com.

What about my Lord of the Boards experience? Well, I am not a tremendous loser. I kick and scream, and throw things, but only for a short while.

This weekend, I not only got to loose but to learn a lesson about modern technology's roll in ski racing. Sound it out with me, its called WWWWW. AAAAAAA. XXXXX. It is a powerful thing. I launched out of the gate after training damn hard for this event. I watched my entire heat swoop past me before the first turn. My skis were slow as hell. I was pissed as all hell. Later in the bar, this powder yahoothat's melearned a simple truth. Forgive my naiveti, but I learned you DO NOT mix brands of wax. Do not put a base of SWIX on with a final layer of DOMINATOR. Either brand alone makes skis turn into Ferraris, but together they just make really good gluewhich might be good to remember the next time you break your shades in the backcountry.

I'm trying to see the positive side to getting my ass kicked. Its not working. But it aint over yet.